In Nis, twice

These last two months, I went to Nis twice. Neither of them was my first visit to the city. First time, I went to Nis in April, as a part of my Balkan tour. Though I spent there only two days, I managed to see the basics. Went to the Castle, climbed up the wall and looked at Nisava River unfolding at our feet, had a few beers in a bar there after our night wanderings in the city centre, drank a coffee in a park with thermal springs and visited the Skull Tower and the Red Concentration Camp.

This time, I decided to leave the undoubtedly strong past of Nis outside my schedule and mostly concentrated on just being in the city. Not that its past does not influence the present. Nis is a ghost city - the city lights go on and off as if the ghosts' invisible hands play with imaginary switches.

So, what did I do? I felt and lived and was happy, even if this happiness did not last as long as I originally thought (and hoped). The rest, more tangible and easily describable things, might sound irrelevant, maybe uninteresting, but it is because of them that Nis will stay with me.

• The smell of baked peppers; it was ajvar period, there were red peppers everywhere and in the yards, people sitting next to big cauldrons stirred the boiling red pulp.
• The small, narrow cafe that was all inspired and made out of a tram wagon.
• The big underground market that spread under the city centre and the street market next to the Castle, with the unbelievably narrow paths.
• The huge latte that would take me three hours to drink, in a cafe of the Main Square, where me and my laptop would go to work every morning.
• The waitress that asked me to teach her some words in Greek.
• Learnt a few words in Serbian (which I have totally forgotten now).
  
• Missed the chance to climb on a terrace and spend a few moments high above the ground, with some good company and a Drina cigarette.
• Quarreled and almost cried during a sad discussion about the Balkans.
  
• A rainy night, I went to a kind of rock band contest in an underground bar.
• Saw the biggest DVD collection ever.